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One of Buddha’s famous quotations is “The foot feels the foot when it feels the ground.” What he was referring to was Grounding, which is the sensation of one’s connection with the ground. Such wisdoms as being “down to earth” or “having your feet on the ground” or “standing on your own two feet” indicate when you are fully in touch with reality through contact and the environment. Grounding helps you get into the present moment, connect with the here and now, moving you out of your mind and more into your body, enabling you to be earth-bound and more human. It allows you to connect deeply with other people, permit more intimacy and accelerate healing.

Grounding creates a flow of energy in the body, feeling fully embodied, so that your feet and legs, hands and eyes have more sensory-motor awareness, energised and relaxed. True grounding not only includes the entire physical body but also the emotional, mental, intentional, energetic and spiritual components of your life. Grounding helps you the support to stabilize and provide emotional containment when feeling stressed, overwhelmed or shocked. The main purpose of Grounding is to deepen the breath and establish a strong connection with the earth, through your body.

There are various grounding methods, some which are active and passive. Streaming can be defined as when the energy system is moving up and down freely, flowing openly vertically and horizontally, similar to the principle of the Double Helix Spiral.

One active method involves breathing and shaking. The breathing out is done through the mouth to avoid hyperventilation and also keeps the person in his body. There are two types of grounding. Primary grounding consists of 7 stages: Holding, Supporting, Nourishing, Containing, Limiting, Sustaining, Protecting, which map the stages of development of the child. Primary grounding is done mostly with the client on his back, which represents the child energy. The next phase executed is called Secondary grounding, and is done in the vertical standing position, which represents the adult energy. Most of the secondary grounding exercises involve vigorous movement of hands and arms, deep breathing through the nose and mouth, moving the body up and down, breathing in on upward movement, and out on downward movement, while pushing the hands toward the earth. Secondary grounding strongly focuses on the root/base chakra grounding. The chakras in the feet and hands open up strongly. Only when a person is grounded, is he safe enough to enable the heart to open up to healing.